What are "SL themed builds"?

The description of the purpose of this forum mentions "SL themed builds".

What does that mean?

What is the connection between "SL themed builds" and political science?

It may say that on the top level, and it could be better phrased. The sticky posting says:

"Welcome to the SL Polysci Discussion Forum, a place to discuss the process, principles, and structure of SL-related political institutions and government. This is the place to hash out the ideas behind Resident-organized governments, themed builds, self-governing sims and the like. This is not a place to discuss RL politics or to personally attack those who hold differing viewpoints."

Seems clear to me ....

Well, since it is clear to you, how about taking your response one step further and actually answering the question that I asked, instead of just quoting something and implying that I should have been able to figure out the answer to the questioin myself?

What are "SL themed builds" and what do they have to do with political science?

Read it again SuzanneC, it is clear...and it doesn't say "SL" themed builds. It just says "themed builds"...once you see that, it should make more sense to you.

Themed communities with rules to which participants must adhere, I suppose. Like the Gorean sims. If you aren't in compliance with the rules you get booted. I noticed that happening when I travelled to Glorious Ar and the adjacent sims as part of my commentary on the current Law Society case study here .

Go visit the Taco sim and you will understand what a Theme Build is. :} What that has to do with politics, or the price of tea in China, I dunno...

The forum description that I and you and everyone else everyone else sees on http://forums.secondlife.com/ says
and it looks like this:

I interpret that to mean themed builds in SL

versus

SL-themed builds

EDIT: no I don't think it is clear, but that is my best interpretation

Hey Gabe, how are you doing?

It does sort of seem logical to discuss themed builds that would be created in SL rather than some other virutal world, doesn't it?

Super

Most other virtual worlds are jusr one big themed build. Take WoW for example, its a Warhammer themed build.

I don't wanna. You take it.

Women of Wrestling?

World of Warcraft.
Or check out Guild Wars if you're planning a themed sim, and you're aiming for top of the line cinematic grandeur. They have a more flexible system than prims, of course, but need to keep the polycount down to avoid lag just as we do. In GW various regions are visually distinct, with a vast sweep of natural scenery, monumental builds and distinctive indigenous inhabitants. : )

Neither do I. I just mentioned it 'cause its a well known game.

Well, obviously I'm going to name the Elf Clan sims as being theme build. Four sims, PG, High-Fantasy based. The sims have local rules (as do most theme sims).

How does our theme differ from mainland? Well for one, while we do rent land, residents must build according to high fantasy theme and local building rules (absolutely no tech). We don't allow "secular" activities or concepts (such as politics or religion) and we boot drama-fiends and griefers like a shot out of a cannon. This makes the sims more peaceful for residents than most mainland, non-theme areas.

Themed sims?

Numbakulla, Darkwood, Eldamar, Telador, Taco, The Forest, Tehama, FurNation, Elf Clan, Gor, Neualtenburg, Amsterdam, Galaxy, Support for Living, Transylvania, Luskwood, Chaos, Ecstasy, Nexus Prime (thp not technically a sim) just for starters..... there's bound to be many others. I'd say that a themed sim would have a unifying achitectural/historical style/theme. It could be fantasy, scifi, lifestyle, politics, anything, just so long as it has an integrated holistic feel to it.

On a side note: hire me to build your themed sim

That's a kewl list Alazarin. I can see there are some sims I'm going to have to visit; I haven't seen some of these.

But really, mentioning your sim-building? Why, that would be like me recommending that people visit ELVENGLEN sim, the home of ELF CLAN. Surely we should not stoop to such low-class things.

A themed build is something like an entire sim, island, or region which is supposed to look like 19th-century London, or 15th-century Transylvania, or a 1950's suburban residential development, or Beverly Hills.

In order to _maintain_ the theme of the build, certain limitations have to be made:
-- The entire sim is owned by one person/group, who retain the right to alter changes made by residents who violate the declared theme of the sim/build
-- The plots in the sim are rentals, and the tenants must agree to adhere to the theme of the build and whatever behavioral restrictions the owner(s) impose. The owner(s) is/'are, effectively, the governor of the sim/build. Got it?

Some people think it's unfair of the owners/governors of such build to _IMPOSE_ their "demands" on their tenants -- in which case the tenants should really go buy their own land where they can do whatever the hell they want. These people forget that SL is _NOT_, in fact, an extension of the US government -- it is A FANTASY WORLD. It's not a democracy -- parts of it are, in fact, monarchies (the elflands, I believe), and some parts are distinctly anarchist (the gaming sims like Rausch). In SL, the landowners make the rules on their land, apart from the LL-determined "zoning"/ratings of PG or M. However, the only _real_ government in SL is LL -- which is why large chunks of land are marked as owned by "Governor Linden".